Univision Bid Falls Apart

Stock Price Slides Upon The News

Univision Communications Inc.'s shares declined as much as 4.2 percent after three investors dropped out of a planned bid for the biggest U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster.

Univision shares fell $1.04 to close at $32.80 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading after falling as low as $32.41. Including Wednesday's losses, they are down about 7.4 percent.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Blackstone Group LP, a major commercial land owner in South Florida, left a buyout group that includes Grupo Televisa SA amid disagreements over how much to offer, said people familiar with the talks who declined to be identified. Univision Chief Executive Officer Jerrold Perenchio, 75, may be reluctant to accept less than the $13 billion some analysts had estimated the company would fetch.

The stock decline "suggests the market believes the deal will happen at a lower price than it originally anticipated," said David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, who rates the shares "outperform."

Another consortium led by billionaire Haim Saban and Providence Equity Partners Inc. offered $35.50 a share, people familiar with the matter said. Univision, which has a market value of $10.3 billion, Wednesday rejected that bid, which valued the company at less than $11 billion.

Carlyle Group, a Washington buyout firm, already dropped out, partly because of price, but the Televisa group is still considering a bid of more than $36 a share.

"The real question now is whether there is any real potential for closing the gap on the price, and whether Mr. Perenchio has any flexibility on the price," said Phil Remek, an analyst at Guzman & Co., before the KKR and Blackstone news.